1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive apparatus for reading information from information read/write media such as CD-R disks.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, variations of the CD family based on the CDDA (Compact Disk Digital Audio) system have increased and, among all, the CD-R disk has gained attention.
The CD-R disk has a storage layer formed of organic coloring matter and is adapted such that information can be written thereon once and for all. For this reason, the CD-R disk has been receiving attention as an information read/write medium suitable for writing data, for example, image data, audio data, and data such as computer programs, as desired by a user, for long-term storage.
The CD-R disk is also adapted to be compatible with the CD family. Thus, after finalizing processing has been performed on the data written on CD-R disk with the CD-R recorder, the data can be read from the CD-R disk with a CD player in the same manner as by the CDDA method.
However, as described above, the CD-R has an advantage in that information can be written thereon although once only. Thus, for example, suppose that the user has recorded a plurality of tunes with the CD-R recorder and may not desire to read any particular one of the tunes. Even in this case, the user is not allowed to overwrite the tune.
In this context, as a CD-R recorder that can meet the requirements of such a user, a device has been developed which allows address information, having tune data that is not necessary for being read, to be written onto a TOC (Table of Contents). When the CD-R disk on which finalizing processing has been performed is read with a CD player, this apparatus allows only a tune desired by the user to be read without reading the aforementioned specified tune data by protecting the tune data from being read, thereby providing increased operability.
For example, as schematically shown in FIG. 1, suppose that the user writes three pieces of tune data TNO(n) to TNO(n+2) and then performs the aforementioned finalizing processing designating that the second tune data TNO(n+1) is not to be read. Suppose also that a command for requesting the reading of the next tune (referred to as xe2x80x9ctrack searchxe2x80x9d) is entered in the course of reading the first tune TNO(n) from the CD-R disk on which the finalizing processing has been performed with the CD player. In this case, a jump is made from an address P1 being read to a head address ADRn+2 of the third tune data TNO(n+2) to continue the reading.
Thus, the jump is made to the head address ADRn+2, controlled by TOC, where the tune is actually written (rather than to the start address of the gap (with no sound) area in the figure). This allows the second tune data TNO(n+1) which need not be read to be skipped so as to perform reading continuously, thereby providing improved operability.
Some CD-R recorders are also known which have a function of designating data corresponding to a writing error as read-protected data upon being read with a CD player. This is achieved by writing address information including the data corresponding to the writing error onto the TOC when the writing error has occurred during writing of the information.
For example, suppose the second tune data TNO(n+1) shown in FIG. 1 corresponds to the writing error. In this case, the CD player completely reads the first tune data TNO(n) to continue reading from the head address ADRn+2 of the third tune data TNO(n+2). That is, the second tune data TNO(n+1) is automatically skipped and the head address ADRn+2 where the third tune data TNO(n+1) is actually recorded is subsequently read. This allows continuous reading, thereby providing improved operability.
Incidentally, as described above, in order to improve user operability, the CD player is provided with a function referred to as manual search in addition to the track search.
This manual search is a function allowing a search for a read start position desired by the user while reading tune data on fast forward, unlike a function of the track search which switches targets to be read successively for each of the tunes.
For example, as schematically shown in FIG. 2, suppose that in the course of reading the tune data TNO(n+2), the user instructs the manual search to search for a desired read start position while performing what is called fast-reverse. In this case, the pickup of the CD player reverses from an address Pa being read in the direction indicated by the arrows (toward the lead-in area). At the same time, the pickup moves toward the smaller numbers or the tune data TNO(n+1), TNO(n), and so on while partly reading the tune data, while the instruction of the manual search is in effect.
For this reason, with the manual search, the user can perform fast reverse feeding up to a desired position with an operation that feels like an analog cassette tape, so that the reading can be started from the fast-reversed position.
However, the conventional manual search has a problem that data designated not to be read by the user and read-protected data corresponding to a writing error (e.g. the second tune data TNO(n+1), etc. in FIG. 2) are also read as targets to be searched.
For this reason, the manual search takes a long time to search for a read start position desired by the user and takes even an gap (no sound) area where no tune is actually written as a target to be searched. Consequently, the manual search has a problem of requiring an unnecessary operation by the user.
The present invention was developed to overcome the conventional problems mentioned above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a disk drive apparatus having search functions for improving the operability.
A disk drive apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention for achieving the aforementioned object is a disk drive apparatus having a manual search function. The apparatus is characterized by comprising a detecting means for detecting a front end position of information subsequent to a terminal end position of an gap portion contained in information upon manual search of said information recorded on an information read/write medium from the outer to inner periphery. The apparatus also comprises a searching means for searching for a terminal end position of information recorded on said inner periphery across said gap portion. The apparatus further comprises a control means for skipping said gap portion to move a pickup to said terminal end position to be searched for by said searching means when said detecting means detects said front end position.
By means of this construction, when a manual search is carried out from the information recorded on the outer periphery of the information read/write medium to the information recorded at the inner periphery of the information read/write medium in the case where gap portion exists in the information between the aforementioned outer periphery and inner periphery, after a search is carried out as far as the front end position of the information at the outer periphery a search of the gap portion is not carried out due the search from this front end position to the information of the inner periphery at the end position being skipped. Thus, only necessary information is continuously searched upon the manual search without searching the gap (no sound) portion which is not necessary for the user. Thus, the user is provided with improved operability.
In addition, the disk drive apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention has a manual search function. The apparatus is characterized by comprising a detecting means for detecting a front end position of information subsequent to a terminal end position of read-protected information contained in information upon manual search of said information recorded on an information read/write medium from an outer to inner periphery. The apparatus also comprises a searching means for searching for a terminal end position of information recorded on said inner periphery across said read-protected information. The apparatus further comprises a control means for skipping said read-protected information to move a pickup to said terminal end position to be searched for by said searching means when said detecting means detects said front end position.
By means of this construction, when a manual search is carried out from the information recorded on the outer periphery of the information read/write medium to the information recorded at the inner periphery of the information read/write medium in the case where read-protected information exists in the information between the aforementioned outer periphery and inner periphery, after a search is carried out as far as the front end position of the information at the outer periphery a search of the read-protected information is not carried out due the search from this front end position to the information of the inner periphery at the end position being skipped. Thus, only necessary information is continuously searched upon the manual search without searching the read-protected information which is not necessary for the user. Thus, the user is provided with improved operability.